Great-Grandma Helen always made pumpkin pie with a Pink Banana Squash instead of pumpkin. It is sweet, never stringy and more refined than most varieties of pumpkins. It's shape makes it easy to work with. You can substitute any variety of pumpkin or squash for the cooked flesh.

Preheat oven to 450°. Mix squash, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and ginger. Beat with an egg beater. Add the milk and beat until well mixed. Pour into two 9 - inch shells. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes and then turn heat down to 325° for 30 - 40 minutes. Bake until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
allaboutpumpkins.com

Separate the seeds from pumpkin pulp. No need to wash them, just pull the fibers and excess pulp off. Leaving remnants of the flesh on the seeds gives them a wonderful pumpkin flavor. In a bowl coat seeds with oil, butter and salt. Spread and bake on a baking sheet at 225° F until seeds are golden, crisp and dry, about 1 hour. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Cool and enjoy!

Separate the seeds from pumpkin pulp. No need to wash them, just pull the fibers and excess pulp off. Leaving remnants of the flesh on the seeds gives them a wonderful pumpkin flavor. In a bowl coat seeds with oil, butter and salt. Spread and bake on a baking sheet at 225° F until seeds are golden, crisp and dry, about 1 hour. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Cool and enjoy!

Cinderella Pumpkins are a unique French heirloom whose correct name is "Rouge vif d'Etampes." The source of their nickname is they resemble the pumpkin that Cinderella's fairy godmother transformed into a carriage. This pumpkin is recorded as possibly being the variety cultivated by the Pilgrims, and served at the second Thanksgiving dinner. This is our favorite pumpkin variety. There is something magical about them. Cinderellas make a delightful decorative accent for the fall season, but additionally their flavor is good for any pie or winter squash recipe.

Pink Banana

Pink Banana is a delectable squash that is a superb keeper and makes a sensational pie. The flesh is finer grained and sweeter than a standard pumpkin, and your family will rave at the difference. When found commercially at the grocery store you generally see this sold in chunks covered with clear plastic wrap instead of whole. Instead of pumpkin pie for holidays, we traditionally ate squash pies made by great-grandma Barlogio using Pink Banana squashes.

Sugar Pie

Sugar Pies are the modern baking pumpkin. If you want to bake pies, and want a pumpkin instead of squash, this is the pumpkin for you! The skin is very thin, the flesh is sweeter and substantially finer-grained than a jack-o-lantern type pumpkin (they were bred for thick rinds and stability when carved . . . not eating!). It is also quite dry which makes for a more stable pie. We guarantee you'll be delighted with the results.

Blue Hubbard

This squash was likely used by your great-grandmother and is a fall tradition still today in New England. Finely-textured, yellow-orange flesh that is medium sweet and medium dry with a very hard rind. It is also suited for soups and all of your holiday baking needs.

Pumpkin Seeds

Kakai

You can eat the seeds from any pumpkin variety. Some seeds are quite large, and others are very small. Some have really thick hulls. There are some varieties however, that are especially good for toasted pumpkin seeds. Kakai seeds are completely hull-less. How cool is that?!? They are very attractive with their bright orange and green stripes. After decorating with them, be sure to save the seeds. Snack Jack and Baby Bear are both good for seeds also as they are semi-hull-less. For information on how to toast pumpkin seeds click here.

Soup & Stew Pumpkins

Red Kuri

Red Kuri is a teardrop-shaped baby-red Hubbard- style fruit. They have a smooth-textured flesh. They are good for pies and purees because specks of skin (being red) will not show. They are also know as Orange Hokkaido and are from Japan.

Kabocha

There are many varieties of Kabocha-style squash. They are all excellent used in soups and stews. They have a very firm dry flesh and lend themselves well to savory dishes. I have seen Cha-Cha, Kabocha and Buttercup squashes used as a soup tureen to hold the soup prepared from additional squash. To use as a tureen, clean out the seeds and stringy material, brush with butter, and cover with aluminum foil. Only partially bake the shell so it will hold its shape when filled with hot soup. After dinner, finish baking the squash and use it in other dishes.

Butternut

A Butternut has the longest storage potential of all squash varieties. The longer you store it, the sweeter and nuttier the flavor becomes. The flesh is orange, smooth-textured, and has a unique sweet flavor — particularly after 3 months of storage. It will easily store in a cool place through February. This squash is commonly used for soup, pies, and is even terrific as a stand alone entrée.

Stand-alone Dish

Delicata

Delicata is one of our favorite winter squashes. They aren't big, but they make up for it in flavor. Delicata has a very sweet light- orange flesh. Excellent for stuffing and baking. Prepare as you would an Acorn and eat right out of the shell.

Carnival

Isn't it attractive?!? The best part? It tastes as good as it looks! It will store for several months and still maintain an excellent eating quality. Their flavor is somewhere between an Acorn and a Delicata. This squash is also excellent stuffed with your favorite meatloaf recipe. Yummy!

Acorn squash have an orange-yellow flesh. The flavor is sweet and nutty with a smooth texture. For best sweetness, wait at least 2 weeks after harvest before you eat them. These are quick and easy to prepare. Slice in half, scoop out the seeds, place halves face down on a plate, place in a microwave, and zap them on high until fork tender. Flip them over and fill the center with butter, brown sugar or maple syrup. Eat them right out of the shell. An added bonus is that this squash is excellent stuffed. Yum!

Sweet Dumpling

Sweet dumpling winter squash are round, dainty, and a perfect single serving size. It has a very sweet, tender golden-orange flesh and is terrific for an individual stand-alone entrée or for stuffing. Very similar in taste to the Delicata. If they don't sit perfectly level just trim a bit of the bottom off before baking.

Buttercups and Turban Squash are also excellent for stuffing. Instead of individual servings, the squash serves as a main entrée and serving dish all in one.

Bowls & Tureens

Baby Bear

My favorite pumpkin to use as a soup bowl is a Baby Bear. They are just the right size for individual servings and the flesh is very tasty.

Be sure to only partially bake your bowl so that the sides will still stand firmly.

Jack-Be-Littles and Lil' Punkemon also make nice individual serving bowls. You can use almost any variety of pumpkin for a large tureen. Jack-O-Lanterns will work as well even though we don't think of them as a culinary pumpkin. If you want to scoop some of the flesh as you serve the soup, you should use a culinary variety.

Breads, Cakes & Cookies

Sweet Meat

Sweet Meat flesh is finely-textured, with a sweet, delicious flavor. Sweet Meat is not commonly found in California or on the West Coast, but it is one of the most popular winter squashes for eating and baking in the rest of the United States.

All pie pumpkin varieties are also good candidates for all your baking needs.

With Marinara Sauce

Small Wonder

Spaghetti Squash makes a delicious pasta substitute. Prick the fruit with a fork all over, boil or bake until tender. Then scoop out the "spaghetti" and serve with sauce, butter or chilled in salads. Spaghetti squash stores extremely well. This variety of Spaghetti Squash is smaller and perfect for a family meal. The flesh is a bit darker in color, is high in vitamin A and has a mild buttery taste.

Chicken, brown rice, and avocados are just a few of the ingredients in this healthy soup recipe. The recipe calls for skinless-boneless chicken breast, but in a pinch we have used canned chicken. This soup is homey, cozy and super easy to make, not to mention Healthy! Posting the recipe so you can have a healthy soup during the holidays too. Enjoy!

Vibrant Chicken Soup

Recipe Source: Preventive Magazine

Ingredients:

3 Skinless-boneless chicken breast

6 cups chicken stock, homemade or canned

3 carrots, sliced

2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice

3 tablespoons lime juice

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 large avocado, cubed

2 tomatoes, cubed

2 tablespoons cilantro, minced

1 tablespoon ground coriander

6 ounce farmer cheese, cubed (I used cheddar)

Directions:

In medium pot, boil the chicken until tender. Cool, cube and set aside.

In a large soup pot, bring the stock and onion to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add carrots and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken to pot and heat through.

Stir in the rice, lime juice, and pepper. Heat for 3 minutes but do not boil.

Stir in the avocado, tomatoes and spices. Heat through.

Place cubed cheese in the bottom of each bowl and ladle soup over the top.

Molasses gives this custard a little extra color and flavor. Chill this great tasting pumpkin custard and serve with whipped cream or whipped topping for a delicious fall dessert.

Ingredients:

2 cups half-and-half or light cream

1 can (15 ounces) solid pack pumpkin

4 large eggs

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

dash ground cloves or allspice

dash salt

Preparation:

Butter eight 7- or 8-ounce custard cups or ramekins; set the cups or ramekins in a roasting pan. Heat oven to 325°.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients; beat until smooth and well blended. Spoon evenly into the prepared cups or ramekins. Place in the oven and pour very hot water into the roasting pan to a depth of about 1 inch. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the custard is set in the center.
Serves 8.

Preheat oven to 350. Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan tightly with aluminum foil (this is to ensure the pan is water-tight while baking inside a water bath). Set a kettle full of water on the stove to boil (for the water bath).

Put graham cracker crumbs, sugar, spices, and pecans into a food processor. Pulse until it becomes a crumb mixture. Drizzle in the melted butter and pulse again until it clumps up. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the springform pan and a little up the sides. Place the pan in the refrigerator to firm up while you make the filling.

Clean out your food processor bowl and add the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, maple syrup, and extract. Turn the processor on and gradually add the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Add the lemon juice and pulse again.

Remove the springform pan from the refrigerator and place it inside of a large rimmed roasting pan. Pour the cream cheese filling on top of the crust. Place the roasting pan into the oven and fill the roasting pan with freshly boiled water, about halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake 60-75 minutes. The cheesecake should be set on top and only slightly wobbly in the center. Carefully remove the entire pan from the oven, then gently remove the cheesecake from the water bath. Peel away the foil and allow the cheesecake to cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (and up to two days) before serving.

To serve, remove the springform from around the cheesecake. Pour about 1/4 cup or so of pure maple syrup on top of the cake, using the back of a spoon to gently guide it to the edges (some syrup may drizzle over the sides, which makes a beautiful presentation). Pecans can also be added for garnish.

Homemade Kettle Corn

A simple recipe for kettle corn, just like the kind found at state fairs!

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the popcorn and sugar. Give the kernels a quick stir and then cover with a lid.

Once the popcorn starts popping, carefully pick the pot up and give it a quick shake every few seconds until the popping slows down, between 3-4 minutes.

Remove immediately from the heat and pour the kettle corn into a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately. Do not make the mistake of removing the pot from heat without transferring to a bowl. Due to the high heat of the pot, if you don’t transfer the popcorn it will caramelize and perhaps burn. *Also, do not attempt to make a batch of this in a dutch oven. I made a second batch thinking it would work and it caramelized to quickly and burned.

4. Divide evenly and spoon batter into muffin tins; sprinkle tops with remaining walnuts and sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan.

Directions:
Combine the papaya, cilantro, onion, and lime juice in a bowl and stir well. Cover, chill and set aside. Combine the goat cheese, chopped bell peppers, cream cheese, and jalapenos in a bowl, and stir well. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture over each tortilla, and fold in half. Cook quesadilla in a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat, approximately 3 minutes per side. Cut each quesadilla into thirds and serve with papaya mixture
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Directions:In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese and cheddar with a mixer until blended. Add onions, peppers, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and a dash of cayenne pepper and mix well. Refrigerate mixture for several hours. Shape it into a ball and roll it in chopped pecans. Serve with assorted crackers.

Directions:Combine shrimp, beans, scallions, and avocado. Season with pepper. In a separate bowl, stir together the salsa, cilantro, and lime juice. Toss shrimp mixture with 1/4-cup salsa mixture. Place two tortilla each on four plates. Lay 3-4 pepper strips in the center of each tortilla. Top with 1/2 cup of the shrimp and bean mixture. Drizzle one tablespoon of the salsa mixture over each taco. Fold tortillas in half and serve with lime wedges
.

Directions:Melt the white chocolate chips in double boiler or a glass bowl over simmering water, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from heat and mix in the vegetable oil. Drop one tablespoon of mixture onto waxed paper. Using the back of a spoon, quickly spread the melted chocolate into a ghost-like shape. You can use a greased cookie cutter or candy form if you prefer, or just do it freehand. Place a lollipop stick at the base of the “ghost” and spin it until it is coated in chocolate. Add chocolate chip eyes. Refrigerate until solid, then peel off of the waxed paper.

Directions:Roll three packaged caramel squares into a ball using the warmth of your hands. Push a lollipop stick about halfway into the caramel ball. Use a lollipop stick to form the ball into a pumpkin shape, complete with ridges. Repeat until you’ve used all of the caramels. Warm the Tootsie Rolls in the microwave for a few seconds and cut them into quarters (more if you are using large Tootsie Rolls). Form each quarter into a stem shape. Melt 2-4 ounces of orange candy melts according to the directions on the package. Dip each caramel pumpkin into the melted candy. Let the excess candy coating drip off. Swirl and tap gently if needed. While the candy coating is still wet, attach a Tootsie Roll stem to the top of each pumpkin. Use a Styrofoam block to hold the pops upright – just jab the sticks into it – and place them in the freezer until the candy coating sets. In the meantime, melt 2 ounces of chocolate candy melts according to the directions on the package. Pour the melted chocolate into a squeeze bottle and pipe a jack-o’-lantern face onto each pumpkin. Freeze until set.

Instructions:Cut the cake into cubes and place them in a large bowl. Use your hands to crumble the cake pieces into fine crumbs. Add in frosting a little at a time, using your hands to incorporate the frosting into the cake crumbs until cake is moist and can hold a ball shape, yet still slightly crumbly. Use small ice cream scoop to scoop out balls of the cake mixture. Roll each into a tight marshmallow-shaped cylinder and place them on a plate. Melt 2-4 ounces of green candy melts, following the directions on the package. Coat the tip of the lollipop sticks in melted candy and insert them about halfway into the cake forms. Place the pops in the freezer for about 20 minutes, still on the plate. Remove the cake pops from the freezer and carefully dip them into the melted candy until coated. Let the excess candy coating drip off, swirling and tapping gently if needed. Use a Styrofoam block to hold the pops upright – just jab the sticks into it – and place them in the freezer until the candy coating sets. Meanwhile, melt 2 ounces of chocolate candy melts according to the directions on the package. Pour the melted chocolate into a squeeze bottle and pipe a hair, eyes, a mouth and scars onto each pop. Freeze until set.

Jaime McLeod is the Web Content Editor for the Farmers' Almanac. She is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, loves eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.

Music

Songs About Food

WHAT IF? An imaginary record cover for a compilation of food-inspired music.

AOL recently contacted me to create a playlist of food-inspired songs for its "Blogger Radio" station on AOL Radio (see below for details on how to listen). After much digging through my own music collection (and some serendipitous searching online), I came up with 100 songs.

There's a heavy emphasis upon jazz and blues, a slathering of R&B, a douse of hip-hop, along with a sprinkling of pop classics and a dusting of heavy metal (o.k., just one -- Def Leppard's cheesetastic "Pour Some Sugar on Me").

As I pored over all of this gastro-music, it became pretty clear that food is more often than not a (barely veiled) euphemism for sex. Candy seems to trump just about everything edible as the most frequent object of desire. Other songs are culinary in name only (take Taste of Honey's "Sukiyaki," for example), while others immerse themselves in a heady contemplation of appetite -- I'm thinking here of the Fat Boys' great, tragicomic "Jail House Rap." And then there's food as abstraction in the form of Dizzy Gillespie's manic be-bop standard, "Salt Peanuts."

You can find the complete playlist (in alphabetical order) below. It's not comprehensive, so if you have a favorite food song that isn't covered here, please share it in the comments.

Tune In: For PC Users, listen by clicking here. If you're on a Mac, download the AOL Radio player, log in with your AOL/AIM screenname, and select "Blogger Radio" under the "Soundtracks & Themes" category. The playlist will be up until June 14, when the station gets turned over to the next DJ/blogger.

Tasty! Songs for Food Lovers

All That Meat And No Potatoes by Fats Waller

All You Can Eat by the Fat Boys

Artichoke by Cibo Matto

Augustus Gloop by Danny Elfman

Augustus Gloop by The Poozies

Banana Boat (Day-O) by Harry Belafonte

Beans And Cornbread by Louis Jordan

Beef Jerky by Cibo Matto

Birthday Cake by Cibo Matto

Black Coffee In Bed by Squeeze

Bowl Of Oranges by Bright Eyes

Brown Sugar by D'Angelo

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones

Candy by Cameo

Candy by Morphine

Candy (Drippin' Like Water) by Snoop Dogg

Candy Shop by 50 Cent

Catfish by Bob Dylan

Catfish Blues by Jimi Hendrix

Chicken Grease by D'Angelo

Chicken Noodle Soup by Webstar & Young B

Chicken Soup With Rice by Carole King

Chocolate Buttermilk by Kool & The Gang

Chocolate City by Parliament

Chocolate Factory by R. Kelly

Choux Pastry Heart by Corinne Bailey Rae

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk by Rufus Wainwright

Cookin' by Clifford Brown

Crawfish by Elvis Presley

Days Of Wine And Roses by Henry Mancini

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost by Lonnie Donegan